Melbourne Victory A-League football club chief executive
Ian Robson
insists he has no regrets over the controversial end to his tenure as CEO of AFL club Essendon earlier this year.

Robson resigned in May at the height of the controversy over Essendon’s supplements training scheme of 2011 and 2012, which was the subject of a lengthy investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and the AFL.

When he resigned, Robson said: “Accountability rests with me. I accept that." The matter later led to then Essendon president
David Evans
also stepping down.

In late August, Essendon agreed to a series of heavy penalties for bringing the game into disrepute, including the loss of all points in the 2013 season, a $2 million fine and a 12-month suspension for coach James Hird.

By then, however, Robson had been installed as the CEO of the Victory.

Though he refuses to discuss whether he was forced into standing down or should have lost his job because of the controversial circumstances engulfing Essendon, Robson tells The Australian Financial Review he has no regrets over his tenure at the AFL club.

“I’m not a regrets kind of guy. You reflect, you learn, you move on. Regrets, to me, always have a heavy connotation to carrying baggage. I try not to do that."

Though the circumstances are different, Robson’s tenure at the Victory has not begun quietly either.

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Since the A-League season began in October, the Victory has lost coach
Ange Postecoglou
, who was poached by Football Federation Australia after a few weeks of the new season to become the coach of the national ­Socceroos team to replace the sacked Holger Osieck.

The Victory is also in the market for a new major sponsor after recruitment firm Adecco indicated it would not extend its existing deal past the current 2013-14 A-League season.

The club also is planning how to ­capitalise on qualification for next year’s Asian Champions League both on and off the field and, longer term, Robson is investigating the feasibility of establishing a Victory academy that will train juniors to eventually play for the club’s top team.

Though the team had to move to appoint Postecoglou’s assistant Kevin Muscat as the Victory’s head coach, Robson can see some positives on the public discussion that took place over the suitability of Postecoglou and other contenders for the national team job.

“It was big news at the time and the discussion showed, I think, that the code had entered the mainstream of public consciousness."

In financial terms, Victory is the A-League’s powerhouse. Last season it made a profit of about $250,000 from turnover of more than $14 million, the highest in a league where clubs lost $15 million to $20 million combined.

Robson says the club’s Victory in Business program, a business networking and matching program the club established on its foundation in 2005-06 and which has more than 90 companies as members, could be the source of a new major sponsor.

“It might take time, but the quality sponsorship properties always get picked up," he says. “Competition is intense but we have that ready-made list with Victory in Business we can at least start with."

Qualifying for the Asian Champions League would also be attractive to a prospective sponsor. The Victory face a one-game play-off in February for a place in the group stages. The draw will be made on December 10, with the Victory likely to be drawn against Chinese, Indian or south-east Asian opponents.

Longer term, Robson says the ­Victory wants to build an academy to produce junior talent. He is doing a feasibility study on possible venues and funding, including applying for government support.

Victory chairman
Anthony Di Pietro
told a business luncheon last week the club was close to finding a site for the academy.